My husband is notorious for sleeping in, and taking naps at the drop of a hat. I am the opposite. Because I start my work day at 7:30am, I am used to getting up early, and couldn’t sleep in if I wanted to. This benefitted me when we took a beach vacation to Edisto Beach, SC last September. The sun didn’t rise until 7, so I was up at least an hour ahead to prepare for my sunrise photos. The weather was perfect, and the water warm. I got up four mornings in a row before the sun came up snapping away. You can see more of these at etsy.com.

We stayed in Edisto Beach, SC last fall where the weather was more than perfect. I woke up early every morning and took some colorful sunrise photos. But I love the tones of this barrier on the beach without color. You can also see this at etsy.com

Before our trip to the beach, I was looking at professional photographer websites in places like Seaside, FL or Myrtle Beach. People pay good money to dress up and have professionals take their photos. We have a tripod and remote release, so I decided we could get those same type of photos ourselves, for free! We really didn’t have “nice” pictures of the two of us on vacation. We are in casual clothes since we walk for several hours a day, carrying a bag or camera. So we dressed up, set up the tripod, and had some fun. Luckily, no one was around that day to ruin our shots.

Jim and I wanted to rent a beach house somewhere where it wasn’t crowded or commercialized. Going after Labor Day helped, and I had heard about Edisto Beach, SC from a friend. We got so lucky. The weather was perfection, not a cloud for 4 days! I am an early riser, and I got up before dawn every morning with my camera taking photos of the sunrise since we faced east. After that, I just sat on the deck drinking tea, reading a magazine, and listening to the waves. The only vacation where we weren’t pounding the pavement trying to get photos of everything! Please see this and other sunrise photos at Etsy.com